The encyclopedia · Strategy & Leadership · Strategic decision · 2012–2023
O Boticário doubled share via a separate drugstore brand arm, Multi B
Brazil's biggest beauty franchise bought a distributor, built a second brand house, and grew B2B sales over 100%.
Grupo Boticário · O Boticário · Multi B
the move
O Boticário built Brazil's largest cosmetics franchise network — more than 4,000 stores — and then hit a ceiling: shoppers who never entered a specialty store. The group's answer, started quietly with a 2012 stake in distributor Frajo, was Multi B, a multi-brand platform for channels it did not own: pharmacies, perfumeries, department stores and online.
The design avoided cannibalization by using different brands per channel. Vult was dedicated to non-proprietary retail; Eudora's hair-care line Siàge sold in drugstores; O Boticário and its flagship stores stayed separate. Acquisitions (Vult, then Truss and Dr. Jones) filled the portfolio, and the CEO described the strategy as having a share in every distribution channel in Brazil.
The bet compounded: B2B sales through non-proprietary channels grew more than 60% in 2022 and were forecast to rise 107% in 2023, with new doors (a pharmacy starting to sell Vult) and productivity (adding Siàge to the same shelf) as the two engines. Market share roughly doubled over the decade.
why it works
- Separate brands prevent channel conflict with franchisees.
- A distributor acquisition brings shelf relationships instantly.
- Pharmacies sell where franchise stores cannot profitably go.
- Multi-brand portfolios compound: each door sells more lines over time.
what transfers
Expansion beyond your owned network works best with a separate brand and a separate platform: give each channel its own identity so you grow the market instead of cannibalizing your own stores.
what came after
By 2022 Grupo Boticário posted R$23.6 billion in sales (+31%) and more than 4,100 physical points of sale in the omnichannel format; a 2026 study named it the world's largest beauty retailer by store count, still anchored by franchises plus the Multi B channel platform.
references
- A fórmula do Boticário para crescer além de suas lojas
- 'Queremos estar aonde o consumidor está', diz VP de B2B do Grupo Boticário
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